Memories in Books
by Jeannie Feegle
Summary: Martha finds the Doctor in an unexpected room, which was from Sarah Jane. Curious, she can't help quizzing the Doctor about the woman, and the Doctor is happy to oblige. Just a bit of drabble, nothing special happens.


Martha searched through the maze that was the TARDIS, looking for the mad alien that was the Doctor. "Doctor?" She called, "Come on, where are you?" Every now and then, the Doctor would just slip away for a few hours. She never knew where he went to because every time she tried to she got distracted. It still amazed her how big the TARDIS was, mainly because the Doctor just couldn't be bothered to explain it to her. She had already checked Rose's room, but he wasn't in there, which was a surprise to her seeing as he wouldn't stop going on about her. Where was he? He definitely wasn't in the console room, or she'd hear clanging and fizzing. She smiled to herself. He was such a bloke that way. Falling in love with a girl, losing her and then be obsessed with fixing his motor. An alien bloke, but a bloke nonetheless. She went into another corridor. She doubted he would be in here, but it was worth a try. It looked like it hadn't been cared for for ages. All the doors were a bit dusty, even what looked like gold doorknobs. Then, Martha stopped as she spotted one that certainly had been looked after. It gleamed in the lights of the TARDIS, and the doorknob and nameplates almost sparkled. There were two nameplates. Well, one if she discounted the one she couldn't read. The one at the top just looked like a load of shapes and lines stuck into circles. The one underneath was written in fancy handwriting. Sarah Jane was what it said. The Doctor had talked about a Sarah Jane every now and then, but hadn't gone on about her. "Doctor, you in here?" She asked, knocking on the door. Nothing, but she could hear soft music playing. She carefully opened the door, to see the Doctor sitting in a chair, humming along to the music as he read a book. He was wearing his blue suit with red tie, and his thick eyebrows were bent into a frown as he read the book, yet still managed to loudly hum along with the music. Martha had to stifle her laughter. "Are you alright, Doctor?" She finally asked as he hadn't noticed her – he was too ensconced in the book. The Doctor looked up at her and smiled, "Oh! Martha! Hello! Sorry, I was just reading this book. Got a bit carried away but, you know." He sniffed and smiled at her whilst swivelling in the chair. "What are you doing in here, I'm sure you have every edition of that book hidden somewhere in your massive library. What's special about that one?" Martha asked.  
"Oh, this one's special. Sarah Jane's copy that she picked up somewhere or other when she travelled with me. She left it here. Only thing she left, actually. Except all the proper chairs and stuff, she'd never be able to carry that."  
"What, she left?"  
"Had to. I had to go back to Gallifrey."  
"Couldn't she have come with you?"  
"Humans weren't allowed there back then. Oh, you should've seen how upset she was, but I had to go."  
"So she just got her stuff and went?"  
"Yeah, that's why I sometimes pick up stuff if I find something that reminds me of her."  
"What? You don't do the same for Rose?" Martha teased.  
"All Rose took with her were her clothes when I lost her. Sarah took everything except this book. Everything including my heart..."  
"So Rose wasn't the only one who broke your heart?"  
"No. I'm over 900 years old, Martha. You can't live as long as that without experiencing a few human pains on the way."  
"Still don't recover from it like a human though."  
"I'm still alien!"  
"Yeah, I suppose. Was she special then? Sarah Jane?"  
"Everyone's special, Martha!"  
"I meant to you."  
"Same applies!"  
Martha laughed. "Just answer my question!" She demanded.  
"Yeah, very special."  
"How did you meet her?"  
The Doctor frowned, "Why would you want to know that?"  
"I just do! Considering you're always going on about Rose and you're not in her room, I want to know why you're in here."  
"Reading!"  
"More like remembering. For God's sake, Doctor, you can just tell me."  
"A top scientific research complex."  
"What?"  
"That's how I met her! People were going missing so I thought I'd have a look, she had the same idea. She pretended to be her aunt when she got in. She managed to get into the TARDIS because she was looking for a man that had disappeared. I went to the Middle Ages to find out what was going on with the disappearing people, and she obviously came with me. Was quite fun that was."  
Martha grinned, "What else happened?"  
"It was a load of confusion but it all ended up well. I can't remember everything, Martha."  
"Yes you can."  
"Yeah, but not every detail!"  
"Alright then. Have you seen her since she left?" She only asked that for some assurance, that leaving the Doctor was not for forever.  
"Yeah, I have actually."  
"Seriously?"  
"Yeah. You don't get rid of me that easily, you know!"  
"When did you meet her again then?"  
"Not like you to be so interested!"  
"Oi! Just answer my question."  
"I was investigating a school that Mickey had pointed out to to Rose. Mickey the idiot was half decent every now and then. There were kids there that were incredibly clever, and the chips tasted odd. To me, that is."  
"What has chips got to do about you meeting an old friend?"  
"Getting to it! Anyway, I was pretending to be a teacher at the school, and Sarah Jane was investigating the same thing, using her journalism as a cover. She didn't know it was me at first because I had regenerated a few times since I had last saw her. Then, at night, I went back with Rose and Mickey, and Sarah Jane had decided to investigate further at night too. She found the TARDIS which I had stored in a...store...cupboard, and then she saw me again. She helped me kill off those Krillitanes. We asked if she wanted to come travelling with me and Rose but she said no."  
"I'm not surprised, I doubt anyone would like to be in between yours and Rose's flirting."  
"Oi! We weren't that bad. I was attached to Rose, of course I was but it wasn't completely and utterly lovey dovey."  
"Still not convinced."  
"Oh, whatever! Your choice. Now, I've finished my chapter, so shall we go somewhere, Miss Jones?"  
"I'd love to, Mr Smith!"  
"Come on then! There are worlds to explore and events to see!" The Doctor said as he closed the book, leaped out of the chair and walked out of Sarah Jane's room with Martha.


End file.
